The Republican journal., 1887-07-07
Letter from Mexico.
\ NEW SCHEME FOR DRAINING; THE VALLEY
OF MEXICO TO BE CARRIED OUT by A FEW
WEALTHY AMERICANS. ATTEMPTS AND
FAILURES IN THE PAST. IMPERATIVE NE
CESSIrY OF THE WORK.
Correspondence of the journal.

CESSlrY OF THE WORK.
Correspondence of the Journal!
Cril OF MENICo, June llth. 81. The eN-
citccn Of the hour in McXicos capital is the
proposed drainage of the valley, by syndicate
of Ohio capitalists. For several months ncyo-
tiationS have been going Oh between the
Bucyrus (ohio) construction company and
three wealthy gentlemen of Cleveland, McsSrs.
Daniel +. Eel>, Ilcrvey &. Rouse and W. II.
Harris. Some time ago Mr.. Rouse came here
ana held consultations with the government
authorities of Mexico. President Diaz and his
cabinet were favorably disposed to the scheme.
but it was necessary that legislative action be
taken in the matter. Having been duly con-
sidcr"I by both Houses of Congress, the GOV
rrnincnt has now ratified the contract, and to-
day il was daily signed sealed and delivered.
No wonder the citizens are excited. What
has been a%Iia'cd at frequent intervals durn"
the last four or five centuries, has come down
to the simple fact that the Valley must lie
drained i'll some way. or the great city of
Mexico cannot much longer exist. But il is Il
gi"anti" undertaking. which has been eagerly
studied aud curlously planned. by AztccS,
SpaHiards. McNiranS, Europeans and Amcr-
cans. Whose a,trinpi>. after spending millions
of dollars, have all ignominio,isll failed. Gov
lavishcd their monr, upon the schemes pro-
posed 10y engineers and scientists toward the
desired end but II yet absolutely nothing has
been accomplished. II must be remembered
that the valley Of Mexico is a basin, with
No OUTLET WHtIi:NEE FOB THE \rEE.
surrounded by mountain wall from one To
li'e thousand feet high. Authentic hi>t"ry
Traces the occupation of this basin back 10 The
N"ar lUo. The city of McXico WAS founded
- of l,,, al br, nf Link, ne
a. cnrIN ~ 1927. ANA III all that time has never
been drained. Al tie time of The Spanish
Conquest. Gran Trnochtitan, rs the capital
was then called. occupied Il small island in the
lake, connected with the main land 10y great
ratiScWays. composed of stone and earth, con-
stru"tra through the lake. primarily to prevent
lhr flooding Of the city by the overflow Of the
tHautitlan river. One cau>eway, connecting
Meliodia with the city WAS seven inches long;
another (r,liiniiig westward to racopan) wa>
two inches i'll length; the third, running north,
three miles. and all We're wide enough to per-
init ten men on horseback 10 ride abreast. The
circuit Of the city measured nine miles, and
the number of HOUSES WAS about 10000 all
literally >warmin- with people, MonStrolls
dykes kept the water out of the ,ly, canals
were common in all parts of the town. and :ill
business of Importance was conducted 10y the
aid Of boats Through the principal streets.
which were wider and Straightcr than NOW,
canals were cut, lcavin" Il broad irlS>a"r-way
Tor i'r'!r>i TRANS on cltbcr side.
After all these centuries Of constant orcil-
pancy. TcNcoco ii;, dwinllc,i away to com
ialati>c nothingnc>S. bat an, where within and
around the Old town water ma. be struck at 4
depth of only two or three feet. proving that
the ground is practically
SOAKED WITH SEW EEAGE.
MI the lakes within the basin are higher than
the city. except TcXcnco. which is two and Il
l,aIf feet lower. The higher lakes drain int"
the lower. and 50 does every sewer of the city.
causin" frequent oNerllows which flood the
capital, sometimes TO the depth of several feet.
The constant recurrence of long lines of green
>ru!nmrd ,litrhcS on the borders Of the city no
doubt assist the above mentioned in
making The deatll-ratc higher here than any
where else in North hAmcri.-a,-;,vcraging 1900
per month 10 its population of 1000! Moth
ing but the rartcd condition of The atmosphere
al this altitude, $50 feet above the seal pre-
vents ii from bcin" the constant theatre of
frightful lcStilencc
The plain fact is that Lake TcNcoco is nothing
more than the accumulated filth of five hun
,lred years. lis waters are so putri that only
the lowest fornS of life can exist, and fishes
are rottin.. on its banks by thousands Its
pe>til,ntiai o,or>, waited by every breeze over
the doomed city. are making Il charGcl house
of lovely Anahnar. which will soon become a
literal valley of thc dead unless engineering
skill can save it. Every year adds to its ar-
rtiinulatrh rot!tnnr>s, and sends the death
rate M the scale.
l:ii; how t" Get The wafer "ut i. the moment
Gus question, whether 10y tunnel. 10y huge
sphon, or by evaporation. It the latter >chcilc
has been proved practically impossible, and 50,
in fact have the other two. Let us look briefly
at of the plans of the past, for this oldest
and most important hydraulic work in the New
World has been studied in every aspect by the
wise acres of five centuries. When the Span
iards arrived here, lust hS years ago they found
that the drainage question had already orcu-
pied the attention of harbaric monarch>, who
had made great cuts through the valley.
about the wear 1890. after an enormous in
lntalon. a celebrated Spanish engineer named
Enrique Martinez. proposed to open !: cut from
Lake rcNroco TO Horrdo Rr"/. givn" fall Of
two thousand feet; but after a long consider,-
tion the plan WAS II. .jcrted-so says Humboldt
-hcraisc il WAS believed on the authority OF
the ancient>. that Il current should have a fall
of at least onc-half metre in Il hundred. The
Niccro,> who ruled Mexico during
nm SECOND HALF OF TIE SIXTEENTH CEN
TIRN
continued the canal-work begun by the earlier
AztecS, under many difficulties. resulting in
nothn. but the abortivc cut of NachiStongo-
through which the Mexican Central railroad
now runs. Up 70 the beginning of the 18th
century over six millions of dollars had been
sunk iii fruilIc>s undertakings. and thousands
of lives had been sacrificed. This is not III
credible when we reflect that human life was
held cheap in those days, that during the first
year Hlte"n WGnS0ld Indians worked ince>-
sanity on the cut, and that afterwards. for one
hundred years the work was controlled by tie
Franciscan Monks.
In li.9, ,lishcartcncd by IFS non-Slircc>S and
alarmed by the great inindation OF that year,
proposed to abandon the old site and build Il
new city at the foot of the mountains. What
apity that the Spaniard> did not carry ont their
wise resolve. for then the Mexican Capital, in
ground high enough to afford good drainage.
To come down to more recent times: in 1861
President .juareZ established IL system of taNa-
ton in the Federal district, all the proceeds Of
which were to lie devoted to drainage. For
several wears the tax was readily paid. as the
plan then proposed was declared easy for mod
ern engineering skill, and that Il few years
time would be sufficient for it, accomp plishmrnt
But alas! After an expenditure of about four
millions. without the slightest good result. the
scheme was abandoned. and the remainder of
the money used by the government to suppress
revolution.
In 1879 the Mexican government granted
liberal concession for this work to an Amcri-
can company organized III Philadelphia; but
after few Years the concession was with
drawn, rs the labors Of the company We're
confined to ''Win,l-work" and the issuing of
maps and circulars. In 1881 General Pac hcco,
afterwards the Minister of Public Works
made Il contract for drainage with some leatlin"
Mexican citizens. In this concession the Gov
ernment bound itself to pay the company
which might be organized an annual sum of
three hundred thousand dollars in monthly i'll
StalmcntS, during II period of thirty years.
This concession was carried to the u. $. and
after much ''hygin"' in Washington, the
whole project fell through-ehicty on account
OF the greed of its promoters. Only last year
EN-'ioyEENoE SrKAGUE, OF RHODE ISLAND,
came here on II secret mission concerning the
same old question. His plan was to construct
Il tunnel seven miles long through the noun
tains surrounding the vallcy-a radical way
out of the difficulty one would imagine, but
rather expensive After lingering around some
months, with deal of mystery but no appar
cnt result, Gov Spraguc returned to the u. s..
and thus spared us from adding another to the
list of failures.
In the spring of 70 Col. A. X. Owen, of
Chester, Penn, head of the Topolobampo
colony and Credit Fonccr Company. went to
Mexico TO lay before President DiaZ plans for
il Worlds Exhibition, then being considered in
Mexico. During the visit President Diaz and
Secretary OF the Treasury Romero requested
MIR. Owen, who is Il practical engineer, to
prepare plans and form Il company to drain
The valley. This he did, and also submitted Il
proposition to build a national railway system,
which was favoraby considered. Col. Owen
accordingly formed Il syndicate with Gen.
Torbet at its head, and in August of 1880 sail
ed from n. !. 10 inauguratc the public works
steamer was wrecked by u cyclone and Gen.
Torbct and "A others were drowned. Mr..
Owen was east upon the Florida coast, after
being twenty-five hours in the water. Even
this did not dampen his arlor, and he mme-
,liately set about organizing another syndicate